baolynn_onlinefandomcom-20200214-history
Nagas
IRL "Naga" is merely the Sanskrit word for "serpent", but like kitsune, the West specifically refers to mythological nagas. They're members of a class of strong, handsome semi-divine beings with the appearance of a human from the hips up and a cobra from the hips down. They can appear to be entirely human or entirely cobra in form. They're also known for shapeshifting. Their underground kingdom is called Naga-loka/Patala-loka, a land with palaces ornately decorated with precious gems. Brahma, the Hindu demiurge, banished the nagas to their nether realm when they became too populous on Earth, commanding them to only bite those fated to prematurely die and the evil. Somehow, they're associated with water. Rivers, lakes, seas, wells, and such. They're also guardians of treasure. Drakainas are their Greek counterparts. Dracaenas are plants. Gorgon Gorgon; a word any Greek myth nerd would immediately recognize. The word itself comes from gorgos/terrible. Deinos/terrible is also Greek. I'm terribly confused. Eh? Eh? Okay...Anyway. In Greek mythology, there were only three gorgons: Stheno, Euryale, and the infamous Medusa. Their descriptions vary throughout history, but two things remain: their snakes for hair and gaze that literally petra-fies. Get it? Petra means stone. Yeah, their gaze turns you into a stone statue that your high school art teacher would still give a C+. In Baolynn From the hips up, they have a humanistic torso. They have five clawed fingers, slitted pupils, a flattened nose, ear holes without external cartilage, can have cheekbone/eyebrow/chin/nose plates/spikes, can have nose horns, a widened mouth, an indent from the corners of their mouths to their ears with membranes, no teeth besides retractable fangs, can have hoods from the back of their head to the top of their waist, thick necks, and forked tongues. From the hips down, they're snake-like. Sexual dichotomy differs between sub-species, but generally, females are larger, more muscular, have shorter, thinner tails, and have flat chests. Males are smaller, have longer, thicker tails, and are more colorful. Nipples are nonexistent. They lack the complex laryngeal structure that humans posses. While this enables them speechless, they can still hiss due to the presence of a glottis. Your inner voice requires vocal folds, therefore they don't have inner voices either. They also don't have blinkable eyelids. A female naga is referred to as a nagini, while offspring are referred to as nagalets or hatchlings. A gorgon is a naga with thick, dreadlock-like hair that can be controlled like small appendages. When they come of age, they can direct the appendages to cast beams. The beams turn objects into stone, which is an ability embedded into their meargen. Stereotypes ... Notable Examples * ... History & Culture Origins ... Age Nagas come of age at twenty-two and have an average lifespan of forty-five. To convert a human age to a real age, you multiply it by 1.6, then round. Visa versa, but divide. Roughly, it's about two human year for every one real year. Here's some example ages: Social While platonic relationships are commonplace, romantic or sexual ones aren't. Breeding is done out of requirement, not pleasure. Their breeding season is from Frostmelt to Paleroot. Nagas are generally considered highly intelligent. Many nagan ruins lie below the sands of Pylash, ruins vastly valued for their scrolls and forgotten grimoires. Their communication skills may be physically hindered, but this doesn't stop them. They sign to one another in LSL (Ludhabian sign language), write words on materials, or write in the air using spells. Identity ... Afflictions/Abilities One out of every two-thousand children is born a gorgon. While the congenital condition is more common amongst females, it has been seen amongst males. Misc ... Trivia *Dimorphism in relative muscle mass is likely to be one of the most fundamental and widespread morphological differences between males and females in the animal kingdom. It appears in snakes as well. Fascinating, huh? *Serpent is merely a synonym for a large snake.